Lately I have been feeling “blah” in my coaching. Eloquent, I know. I have been feeling like I am just going through the motions. The machine has been driving but no one has been at the controls. What a stale, hopeless, unfulfilling way to spend a significant amount of time in my life. It’s no fun to operate like this, so I wanted to do something about it.  

As I was sitting in this feeling over the weekend, I began asking myself the questions, “How long can I continue to coach feeling this way?”, “How can I get my passion back?”, “What is making me feeling this way?”. 

Most of the questions I was asking focused on what I was missing, the deficit I was experiencing. I wanted to experience something different. I needed a new question. 

I began with the acknowledgement of the choice I had: I didn’t have to continue coaching if I was going to feel this way while doing it. With this acknowledgement, questions began to take a different shape, “What do I love about coaching?”, “Why did I start coaching?”, “Why do I coach?”. The answer began to trickle in over the course of the next few days. Eventually it became clear. I coach because of the relationships I get to build. I love engaging with the guys, being genuinely interested in their well-being, learning about them, and the way they operate. It fuels me to be better every day. We have some incredible young men that make up our program. 

The next week at practices I set my intentions on connecting with the individuals on my team and lo and behold I began to feel that passion again. By the end of the week, I was reenergized to a level comparable to the first week of season.  

I coach to influence and be influenced by the players, coaches and administrators I repeatedly develop relationships with. They continue to teach me amazing things about life. Being invested in these relationships, allows me to connect teaching volleyball, a useless skill in the grand scheme of life, to something of value; our shared humanity and our shared enjoyment of the path to mastery.